19 December 2014 12:07
SKUKUZA – The fight is on between South Africa National Parks (SANParks) and greenies over the development of a lodge in this rest camp, the administrative centre of the Kruger National Park (KNP).
The public-participation programme kicked off at the end of November with a meeting in Pretoria and will be followed up with a similar meeting in Skukuza at the beginning of January.
KNP is only one of five parks, out of a total of 19 in South Africa, that is managed by SANParks, that is making a profit, with Kruger boasting the highest income.
The other four profitable parks are the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park and the Addo Elephant, Table Mountain and the Kgalagadi national parks.
“SANParks is only getting about 17 per cent of its operational income from the South African Government, with us supplying the rest. So 83 per cent of our income is self-generated and now comes from direct sales to the public,” according to Mr Glenn Phillips, chief executive of tourism development and marketing division of SANParks.
SANParks chooses not to refer to hotels because it can be misleading in public opinion and lead to negative reports.
The Safari Lodge planned for Skukuza will not be taller than two storeys and will be kept lower than the tree line.
The lodge will have 128 rooms and will be a three-star facility, and it will eventually become part of the infrastructure of the Skukuza Rest Camp.
The design includes various loose-standing structures opposed to a single block building in order to minimise the visual impact of the lodge.
The electricity provision will be supplemented with solar power. Solar panels will be placed out of view from the tourists in the camp.
The water required for the lodge will be within the limits set in the current water-use licence and no additional abstraction rights from the Sabie River will be required.
Phillips also added that grey water will be reused where possible.
The location of the proposed Skukuza Safari Lodge is in the vicinity of the existing conference centre and Phillips remarks that the holding of professional conferences is one of the new markets SANParks is busy exploring.
He says this business sector has grown by 33% year-on-year.
Contractors will only be employed after the consultative programme has been concluded.
There has been strong opposition to this development from quite a number of organisations, because of what they deemed as the overcommercialisation of KNP.
This has led to a number of strategies that will reduce traffic on the roads in the Kruger by possibly implementing a park-and-ride facility for day visitors to the park.
The road from Kruger Gate to Skukuza is the busiest in the park and there are also plans to reduce traffic on official roads by opening up alternative roads, or looped roads, for game viewing.
The Skukuza Safari Lodge will open its doors in June 2017, if all goes according to plan.
